REVIEW: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. "Purpose in the Machine"
Things are happening, we’re one step forward on things, and the team’s relatively on the same page. Those seem like minor developments (and they are), but I almost never felt like this during the previous season. Now we’re getting them in episode two. That one win will probably have to carry us for the rest of this half, so strap in for this review.
In 1839, a bunch of English lords tested the same monolith only to have one of their own eaten and never returned. In present day, we return to Fitz screaming at the thing only to be pulled back by the remaining members of the team. Fortunately, the team discovers the monolith’s a portal, and everyone’s got their positions. Bobbi and Fitz are studying the rock, Mack and Daisy are awaiting the arrival of Andrew for the analysis of Joey, and Hunter’s off to kill Ward. Speaking of Ward, we’ve confirmed that the guy is indeed restarting Hydra. All of that in less than ten minutes. Now that’s how you do excitement with exposition.
On the bright side, we see the return of the Asgardian/Professor Randolph in a Norwegian prison. Now if they actually bring back the gravitonium, we can officially cross off every open season one plot. But I digress. Andrew’s been pretty negative when it comes to approving new Inhumans recruits or May’s location, but this is television so we know right away. May’s off practicing her swing with her dad who’s equally as interested as to why May’s there in the first place. New fun fact: May’s not that good at golf. It’s always fun to learn those things.
In Spain, Ward and his new pal Kebo infiltrate a yacht to find a rich boy. In England, the team search an old castle once explored by Randolph in 1853 after the professor recognizes the Hebrew symbol. In the base, we get our first name drop of the Secret Warriors by Andrew. It’s at this point in the episode when I realize how little I know what’s going to happen despite things actually happening. Not even knowing that May used to ice skate can change that, though it was cute and I wouldn’t mind more. Then Hunter showed up at May’s doorstep, and my point is made again.
There are a few new developments I understand. The team finds a possible way to control the portal, and Hunter offers May an opportunity for her to join him in the hunt for Ward. One thing I promise that I don’t understand is how they can afford the new jet and fancy containers for the monolith. I probably didn’t have time to mention it in the midst of last week’s onslaught of things I already knew, but that will probably be a recurring theme whenever I have time to bring it up in these reviews. Besides, all that happened at this point was a failed use of the monolith causing Daisy (dammit!) to faint from the pulsing.
Here’s something you didn’t see coming. The rich boy Ward and Kebo have been torturing is actually the son of Baron Von Strucker. The only thing more shocking is the fact that a Hydra guy could reproduce. How does that happen? Does world domination or mass genocide turn some people on? And then is someone willing to stay the nine months to carry that baby and possible raise it to adulthood? I’m expecting a lot of twisted theories after this episode, but I’ll wait until finding out how Daisy can open the portal.
Daisy ruptures the portal open as Fitz jumps in without a warning. In a tense moment, Fitz barely finds the time to grasp Simmons from the other side just as Daisy breaks her hold. Only on SHIELD can I actually say that I was worried for a character going into a liquid-solid portal to another planet to find his true love while another character vibrates the portal open. The magic of TV, I guess. Andrew informs May, who’s now partnering with Hunter and more guns, on the good news, and we get the cute scene between FitzSimmons that we so rightfully deserved after that ending last season.
The tag’s kind of weak compared to others. So…yeah, Hydra’s tracking Andrew who works with SHIELD. Will that come back? It would have been a bigger twist if they didn’t cross paths so quickly, but this means more Andrew. Another downfall of the show is me preferring the side characters over some of the main ones. Did you notice that Lincoln was gone? Was this the first time you realized that? I was personally more interested in what Randolph remembered about the Inhumans.
This episode was easily more exciting that the last, barring the opening scene since nothing topped that yet. There are still a few things beyond Simmons and the rock that could be interesting through, considering I’m just as mad as Daisy that we’re nowhere near having the super-powered team. But name-dropping means they at least remembered it. In the long run, my rating for this episode will probably go down as we learn more, but I’m still watching. Though I will miss May’s dad.
